| Outgoing President Bharrat Jagdeo has promised that the next government under People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will continue its fight to keep the sugar industry alive and viable.Addressing a few hundred residents of Enterprise, East Coast Demerara, Tuesday evening, the Head of State who is barred constitutionally from contesting the Presidency,Cheap Jerseys From China, made it clear that the sugar industry was crucial to the long term plans of Guyana.“Let me make one thing clear… the PPP’s commitment to sugar has been and will always be unshakeable and this is why when we faced significant hardships… we said we are going to make this industry viable,” President Jagdeo said.A government report of the meeting quoted Jagdeo as listing some of the “significant hardships,” as pressures from the Alliance for Change (AFC), the “defunct People’s National Congress (PNC)”, and columnist Ravi Dev for government to relinquish the sugar industry.This, he said, was coupled with the high cost of production and the European Union’s (EU) 36 per cent price cut that resulted in Guyana losing $9B in revenue per annum from the industry.Drawing a comparison with other Caribbean territories like St Kitts and Barbados which has opted to withdraw from cane cultivation,Cheap Jerseys From China, the President warned that the opposition coalition, A Partnership For Unity (APNU), intends to pull out of the industry if elected to lead.“Many from the opposition think that sugar workers don’t have the vision. They say bad things about sugar workers but they don’t know that these are some of the most forward looking, resilient people,” he said in his attack.“In 2008,Cheap Jerseys NFL China, the government made the largest historic investment in the sugar industry with the commissioning of the $185M Skeldon Sugar factory which incorporates some of the best technologies in sugar manufacturing to reduce production cost, improve sugar quality and operational efficiency.”According to the government release, the hefty investment was done at a time when Barbados,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, St. Kitts and neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago backed away from sugar resulting in workers being laid off,NFL Cheap Jerseys China, some without severance pay.In May this year a US$12.5M packaging plant at Enmore was commissioned.The sugar industry contributes 16 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is the means of livelihood for about 17 percent of Guyana’s population which directly or indirectly depend on the commodity.Jagdeo, however, believed that the government’s vision for the sugar industry will have to continue to move in a sophisticated direction where operations are mechanized and manual labour is minuscule.“The industry itself we have to mechanise… so our sugar workers now have to be retrained to use machinery.”Regarding the long-standing complaints by sugar workers of not accessing their correct benefits from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), the President acknowledged the challenges and assured that there are ongoing plans to computerise records to correct the situation.He also shared his vision for the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector that is rapidly emerging in Guyana and realizing the dream of conducting business from the comfort of one’s home.He told the gathering of his confidence about PPP/C winning over Region Four, a traditional stronghold of the PNCR, at this year’s elections, scheduled for November 28.The meeting was held at the Khaleel Bridge junction of the village. Housing Minister,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, Irfaan Ali was also present at the meeting. |
